Published 5:11 pm, Monday, February 1, 2016

Juan A. Garza was a loyal employee, spending most of his education career at one school district as a teacher, coach, vice principal and human resource director.

Last April, Garza was diagnosed with kidney cancer and began treatment to fight it. He spent the last six weeks of his life in a hospital and died Jan. 26. He was 59.

“It was hard,” his wife, Montye Garza said. “But he continued his normal life and was a trouper through it all.”

When Garza was 4, he and his family moved from Bryan to San Antonio and he graduated from John Jay High school in 1974, where he played baseball and was in the 1974 Big League World Series in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, his family said.

Garza played baseball for Wharton Junior College. He kept playing for two years until an arm injury occurred that would end his baseball career as a player, his wife said.

Putting his love for sports on hold, Garza enrolled at the University of Texas at San Antonio to get his bachelor’s degree in education. He attended graduate school at Texas A&M University at Kingsville and earned a masters degree in educational administration.

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“He was always drawn to the aspect of teaching and coaching,” Garza said. “He also loved being around kids and inspired many people along the way.”

Garza began his teaching career in Harlandale Independent School District as a middle school teacher. Through the years, Garza taught health, was a baseball coach and then was vice principal of Harlandale High school.

“He always felt a strong connection with that district, and that’s why he was there for so long,” his wife said. “He was happy there with all the teachers and coaches and felt that it was a community.”

Garza eventually became the human resource director at Harlandale. There, he would recruit and hire teachers for schools. Garza even hired a student he taught in one of his high school classes who had received a degree in education, his wife said.

In 2013, Garza retired and sought out one of his dreams. He traveled the United States and attempted to watch games in every baseball stadium across the country. He also used that time to visit and see his daughters, his wife said.

“He loved to travel with his family or to go see his family,” Montye Garza said. “He was a great father. He was so involved in everything his daughters did, and all those special times together will live in their hearts.”

Some of Garza’s hobbies were to ski, golf, travel and spend time with his grandchildren, his wife said.

“He was a very positive person and always had a smile on his face,” his wife said. “He was very much a family man and had strong family values. It was special for him to have all of his family there for him until the end.”